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Lee continues to balance life as a top professional player and personality with a bustling home life. (Photo by Anne Craig)

Last evening, the Women’s Professional Billiard Association inducted Jeanette Lee, known throughout the world as “The Black Widow,” into its Hall of Fame, just prior to the start of this weekend’s WPBA Masters at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Lee, who has won over 30 national and international titles, is currently ranked No. 3 on the WPBA points list.

Taking the sport by storm in the mid-’90s, Lee best year came in 1998 when she was named WPBA Sportsperson of the Year and BD Player of the Year. In 2001, Lee was crowned as the World Games Gold Medalist and continued her success in 2003 by clenching the Tournament of Champions title. As she accumulated tournament victories, Lee quickly ascended to No. 1 in the world.

“Being inducted into the WPBA Hall of Fame is one of the greatest honors a player can receive,” said Lee. “It’s a part of history, and to be voted on and recognized in this way by my peers on the tour means so much to me. While I do feel I’ve contributed to this sport, I still want to continue to bring new eyes to the game and help it grow. Thank you to the WPBA and ESPN for giving me the platform to do so, and I thank God, my family, friends, sponsors, past and present, and of course, my fans, for being there through it all.”

As the most recognized face in billiards, Lee has been consistently ranked as one of the most powerful people in the sport by Billiards Digest. Lee is currently working to reclaim her rank as the No. 1 billiards player in the world, all while raising a family of six with her husband, George Breedlove, near Indianapolis, Ind.

Jeanette Lee is a player representative for the American Poolplayers Association, the world’s largest pool league. Among her mentors are the late Gene Nagy, pros Tony Robles, Bob Carman, Jerry Briesath, and Mark Wilson. Said Jeanette, “There are so many others that I have learned from, I want them all to know they were and are appreciated but these names are the ones that I have spent the most time with and really molded my love of the game, in both knowledge, fundamentals and winning attitude!”

The overwhelming success of shooters from the United Kingdom and several strong qualifiers are the big surprises from the first day of the history-making IPT North American 8-ball Open, now underway at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, conventional-wisdom favorites such as Jose Parica, Mike Davis, Max Eberle, and Tony Robles were headed back to the drawing board, or at least a practice table, to ponder their early exits from the $2 million tournament.

But the biggest shocker was how incredibly well the contingent from the U.K. performed. Compatriots on the English 8-ball circuit (and relative unknowns elsewhere) Michael Hill, Darren Appleton and Carl Morris each went a perfect 4-0 in the first round of round-robin play, which featured 20 groups of five players each.

The second 100 competitors in the 200-player field will wage war today in their first-round matches. The top three players in each of the 40 groups advance to the next round; the eliminated players settle for a modest $2,000 each.

Incredibly, Martinez, Moore and Marquez were among the 50 qualifiers for the event, beyond the 150 regular IPT members. And Foldes earned his spot in the event as Buddy Hall’s replacement, after the Hall-of-Famer bowed out of the Open.

Filipinos are expected to perform well at the Open, but expatriate Parica struggled to a 1-3 record and an early exit.

• Snooker superstar and 8-ball neophyte Ronnie O’Sullivan (U.K.) squeaked into the next round with a 2-2 record.

• After losing his first two matches, Shawn “Bubba the Love Sponge” Putnam (U.S.) gutted out two victories to advance.

• Long-ago road player Michael Zimmerman (U.S.) emerged to win his group — a toughie that included Filipino Warren Kiamco and Keith McCready of the U.S. It was not clear initially whether McCready or Kiamco would advance, since both held 2-2 records and an identical games-won percentage.

The World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship got underway May 30 at the Hilton in East Brunswick, N.J., the first competition of its kind in over 15 years.

The 64-player field included some of pool’s elite players, including Mika Immonen, Nick Varner, Mike Sigel, Allen Hopkins, and Oliver Ortmann. Top women pros Jeanette Lee, Jasmin Ouschan and Megan Minnerich were also invited to play.

The event kicked off with an opening ceremony in which the players were divided into eight groups of eight players. The first round was a round-robin format, with only the top 32 advancing to round two, which is currently underway, employing a double-elimination format.

Day two of the Enjoypool.com 9-Ball Championship was full of excitement at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.

In what many fans are calling the best match they’ve ever witnessed, Efren “The Magician” Reyes would not succumb to a 10-1 deficit to Allen Hopkins, who was playing near flawless pool. In the case match, Hopkins jarred the 8-ball, allowing Reyes back to the table. This would prove a fatal mistake, as Reyes strung together a 10-game comeback to win the match 11-10.

Also on the men’s side, Taipei’s Po Cheng Kuo knocked crowd favorite Tony Robles to the one-loss side, 11-8. Kuo will next face Johnny Archer who scored an 11-0 win over John Schmidt on Monday.

The women’s side had its share of excitement as well, as Arizona’s Angel Paglia upset Karen Corr, ranked second in the Women’s Professional Billiard Association, with a 9-7 win.

Another non-WPBA player, Jasmin Ouschan, scored a hill-hill win over former World Champion Ga-Young Kim. Ouschan went on to score a 9-2 win over Alice Rim later on Monday. Chinese up-and-comer Xiao-Ting Pan continued to make waves with her impressive play, scoring a 9-6 win over Jeanette Lee.

The 256-man full-capacity field has been cut in half on the fifth day of the 30th annual U.S. Open 9-ball Championships in Chesapeake, Va. there were no gimme matches left as several big name had slipped into the treacherous, mile-deep losers’ bracket.

Reno Open winner Marlon Manalo and 2003 BCA 9-ball Open titlist Tony Robles found themselves slugging it out deep in the one-loss bracket on Friday afternoon. Nearby, major event winners Marcus Chamat and Mike Davis faced off as red-hot Robb Saez and 2004 BCA champion Thorsten Hohmann battled for survival in the one-loss bracket.

Playing on diamond tables with 4 1/2 inch pockets and an absolutely unforgiving cut the finesse players and most experienced pros seemed to have an edge.

Among the 16 players left in the winners’ bracket was Efren Reyes, who dropped defending U.S. Open champ Gabe Owen to the one-loss side, 11-8 on Thursday night. Reyes will meet Filipino countryman Jose Parica on Friday night. After a weak showing at the World Pool Championships, the Filipino contingent is performing quite well here; Alex Pagulayan and a resurgent Francisco Bustamante will meet in a winners’-bracket match on Friday night as well.

So far, the surprise of the tournament is young Sylver Ochoa, 19, a college sophomore at Texas-Pan American and a mainstay on the Fast Eddie’s regional tour. Ochoa beat Keith McCready Thursday night, 11-8, to stay undefeated. He will face Ralf Souquet on Friday night in a winners’-bracket match.

The U.S. Open is going into its third day, and there are already a few upsets on the board. Pablo Matheu defeated Tony Robles and David Grossman beat Rodney Morris.

But many favorites are still undefeated after two rounds, including Efren Reyes and John Schmidt (who play each other today), as well as former U.S. Open Champs Johnny Archer and Francisco Bustamante and defending champ Gabe Owen.

The field of 75 that showed up at Snooker’s Cafe & Billiards in Providence, RI, Jan. 29-30, included recognized names such as Joe Tucker, Frankie Hernandez, Tony Robles and Joey Korsiak. Basavich bested them all, facing Tucker in the finals after sending him to the one-loss side in the third round. Though Tucker got to a 4-0 lead in the championship match, Basavich got to the table in game seven and won the next seven straight games to win it all, 9-4.

“Joe Tucker actually ran the first 4 racks, and was up 4-0,” Basavich said. “I didn’t run all of my games, but I’d run three racks, then run another three racks, like that.”

Things keep just keep getting better for Basavich, with his “Kid Delicious” cue sticks and a four-disc DVD set selling like hotcakes. But the capper by far is his game: “I’m playing the best I’ve ever played,” Basavich said. “[At Ocean City] nobody got past 4 games against me the whole tournament. I’m not being cocky — I can’t believe how things are going myself.”

Basavich collected $2,500 for the win, while Tucker settled for $1,800.

Corey Deuel completed an undefeated run to win the UPA Pro Tour Championship at the Bicycle Club in Bellflower California this weekend.

Deuel, known as the master of the soft break, was working that break to perfection all weekend and had wins over Charlie Williams, Mika Immonen and Efren Reyes before a 7-5 win over Danny Basavich for the hot-seat.

On the one-loss side, Basavich eliminated US Open Champion Gabe Owen 7-3 and forced Owen to settle for third place.

The finals were one race to seven on the ESPN table, and it went all the way to hill-hill before Corey put it away.

Deuel earned $10,000 for first place, while Basavich settled for $5000 in second place prize money. Owen and Efren Reyes filled out the top four places.

Once again it looked as if the Americans were poised to shut the door on the 2004 Mosconi Cup, and once again Team Europe wedged its collective foot in the way.

As was the case Saturday night in the ballroom of the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, Holland, Team USA posted a critical win in the opening match of the session to extend their advantage, then watched the Euros storm back with consecutive match wins. In what was then viewed as the most important match of the tournament, Rodney Morris continued his MVP play for the Americans, topping Euro ace Mika Immonen, 5-3, to give Team USA a 10-6 lead in the race-to-12 team tournament.

But Dutch national treasure Niels Feijen revived Team Europe’s hopes with a 5-2 win over mistake-prone Johnny Archer. And in a repeat of his Saturday night heroics, pint-sized Swede Marcus Chamat came through in the clutch, beating Tony Robles, 5-3, to pull the Euros to within two points at 10-8.

The Americans still have Earl Strickland, Gabe Owen and Charlie Williams for Sunday night’s session, with the Euros banking on Steve Davis, Thomas Engert and Oliver Ortmann. If the match reaches a 22nd and/or 23rd match, the teams will be allowed “Captain’s Choice” selections.

Facing the stark reality of an early trip home, Team Europe sent a message to their American combatants by winning the final two matches of the night Saturday, and trimming Team USA’s lead to 9-6 at the Mosconi Cup in Egmond aan Zee, Holland.

Having swept the three double matches Saturday afternoon, the U.S. squad entered the evening’s singles matches leading 8-4. The defending champions extended their advantage to five matches when firecracker-hot Rodney Morris drilled Germany’s Thomas Engert, 5-1, in a sporty 30 minutes.

But Team Europe captain Oliver Ortmann stemmed the U.S. onslaught with a 5-1 win over struggling Tony Robles. Sweden’s Marcus Chamat then pulled off a stunningly easy 5-2 win over Earl Strickland, sending the packed partisan house into near hysteria and his Euro teammates to bed with visions of a comeback dancing in their heads.

The 11th running of the transatlantic Ryder Cup-styled team event will conclude with a maximum of eight singles matches on Sunday.